TOPIC:

Referring to ICB members' previous dismal attempts[/url:12sm0lw5] at identifying Irelands major stouts in a blind tasting, this new study coordinated by Colin, from The Beer Cellar, is reported on here[/url:12sm0lw5] by a_friend_in_mead.

Ok so it is not 100% that random punters are better beer tasters than we are as they got to not 'name that beer' when they didn't have a clue. There are also a few other cheats like allowing Molly's in this test when it was not in the first one. Including ICBers and brewers in the test is alos a major bias. Still though 16 out of 35 for O'Hara's is a lot better than we did alone.

So Guinness as the winner? O'Hara's being so popular with the ladies. What do you think?


The actual data on the votes etc is here[/url:13mr89jr].

Was O'Haras on tap or bottle? It would make a difference with the men as if it did not have the nitro kegged creaminess that Guinness has, they would not like it as much. Great to see it come second among the men though.

Surprising how well O'Haras did with the women, showing they have good taste when it comes to stout.

I thought it was interesting, if disappointing, that Guinness came out top. I was thinking last night that perhaps this illustrates that for non-beer-geeks, Guinness has an accessibility, or at least is a familiar experience to most pub goers. I was wondering if this is what came through the tasting

What would be interesting is to know the drinking preference of those tasters before they took the taste. Were many of them confessed, regular Guinness drinkers? If so, how many of them had their own preconceptions challenged or confirmed based on their blind tasting? It's something I've recorded in some of the blind tasting I've run so I could throw it in the face of the tasters afterwards. It's great fun! <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

Great to have such a large number of tasters! Well done Colin!

O'Hara's would not have been my first recommended beer to a lady. So scientific proof I know nothing about women.

The O'Hara's was on tap.

I emailed the brewery's to tell them about the tasting and got this bounce reply

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Well it does prove one thing and that is, despite whatever opinion we may hold of Guinness and of their business practices etc it shows that they know what they are doing.

At one time Guinness was probably as flavoursome as O' Haras but in order to appeal to the masses they toned it down and "perfected" it in the sense that it is still so popular and has become the benchmark stout.

You should see how many American homebrewers try to emulate Guinness on the beertools site instead of just trying to create their own stout masterpiece.

I have never tried O'haras on tap, I had a sip once and it was no where near as good as the bottle but I will have to do a side by side comparison with Guinness some time.
Is it a regular on tap in O'Neills? I have to go there anyway to review it for my pub guide.